IPC Report Reveals the Growing Political Power of Immigrants and Their Children

Examines the growing electoral clout of New Americans: naturalized immigrants and the U.S.-born children of immigrants raised during the current era of immigration that began in 1965.

Late on Election Day, pundits will begin to identify the demographic groups who are responsible for swinging the results in key races around the nation. The Immigration Policy Center has released a groundbreaking report, entitled The New American Electorate: The Growing Political Power of Immigrants and Their Children, whichexamines, for the first time, the growing electoral clout of a previously unidentified yet pivotal group of voters in key states around the nation: New Americans—naturalized immigrants and the U.S.-born children of immigrants raised during the current era of immigration that began in 1965.

The report finds:

New Americans Were Nearly 9% of All Registered Voters in 2006.

The Number of New American Registered Voters Jumped Nearly 60% between 1996 and 2004.

New Americans’ Share of Registered Voters Exceeded the 2004 Victory Margins in 16 States, including battlegrounds like Nevada, Florida, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.

State Snapshots:

Nevada

New Americans accounted for 14.8% of all registered voters in Nevada, while the margin of victory in the Presidential race in 2004 amounted to only 2.2% of registered voters.

New Mexico

New Americans accounted for 7.0% of all registered voters in New Mexico, while the margin of victory in the Presidential race in 2004 amounted to only 0.6% of registered voters.

Virginia

New Americans accounted for 6.2% of all registered voters in Virginia in 2006, while the margin of victory in the 2004 Presidential race amounted to only 7.6% of registered voters in the state.

What’s to come?

2008 is expected to be a banner year for New American voters due to record-breaking naturalization rates (3 million more naturalized citizens are eligible to vote now than during the 2004 Presidential election); turbo-charged registration efforts by groups like the We Are America Alliance and “Ya es Hora, Ve y Vota;” and aggressive GOTV efforts in ethnic communities which will likely result in Latino turnout hitting record highs in 2008—surpassing the 7.6 million Latino voters who turned out in 2004.